The storm had passed, but its scars lingered like ghosts over the land.
A dense gray haze clung to the broken horizon, veiling the sun. Where once vibrant streets bustled with life, now stood only the broken spines of buildings. The marketplace was a graveyard of collapsed wood and charred cloth. The wind didn't sing—it moaned, carrying the scent of burnt earth and something metallic beneath.
Tents had sprung up like mushrooms in the wake of devastation—makeshift shelters of cloth and magic lining the open plains just outside the city's heart. The Guild had repurposed every inch of safe ground into a recovery camp. Healers, with sleeves rolled up and hands trembling from overuse, moved like shadows between the wounded.
Some groaned. Some were silent. And others... others would never speak again.
---
Inside one of the medical tents...
Leo lay still.
His skin was slick with sweat, cheeks flushed unnaturally warm. His chest rose and fell unevenly, and every breath seemed to pull against something heavy and invisible. His fingers twitched every now and then, reaching toward something—perhaps a memory, perhaps a battle.
Ari sat beside him, legs folded, her cloak tossed aside. Her sleeves were wet from the cloth she kept dipping into a bowl of cooling water.
> "You really can't stay out of trouble," she murmured, pressing the cloth gently to his burning forehead. "Always playing the hero, even when you're one fever away from burning yourself up."
She ran her fingers lightly over his hair. The scent of smoke still clung to it.
> "You saved everyone... you idiot. But… at what cost?"
Her voice trembled. The cloth slipped slightly in her hand, and she caught it quickly, brushing it back into place. She hadn't cried when the sky rained blood. She hadn't cried when the monsters dropped like curses from the clouds.
But now, with Leo asleep and helpless before her—she almost did.
---
A short distance away, under the broken arch of a once-glorious plaza...
Rayleigh and Vellum stood, surveying the damage.
Children ran by with water buckets. Somewhere, a mother called out for her daughter. Smoke from magical fires still hung in strange-colored wisps in the sky.
Vellum's face was darker than usual, jaw clenched.
> "This doesn't feel like a win."
Rayleigh nodded slowly. "Because it wasn't."
> "We drove Velyour away, right?" Vellum asked. "We should be celebrating. But all I feel is... like the world cracked and kept smiling at us."
Rayleigh exhaled, eyes scanning the blackened ruins of the East Block.
> "Velyour's not gone," he said grimly. "That wasn't a retreat. It was a message."
> "Then what the hell do we do now?" Vellum's voice was sharp. "He had the entire Council fighting at once and still didn't fall."
> "We survive," Rayleigh said simply. "We gather. We learn. And we make sure the next time he comes, we aren't just survivors—we're something that can end him."
There was silence between them. Then Vellum asked the question that had been gnawing at both of them.
> "Leo... what did he do back there?"
Rayleigh hesitated, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
> "He cast something. Something older than our records, and stronger than anything I've ever seen."
> "Do you think the Council noticed?"
> "Maybe," Rayleigh said. "But... maybe not. There was too much energy. Too much light. Nobody could see clearly what happened at the end."
> "And that might be the only thing keeping him safe."
---
Back in the tent...
Leo stirred, a soft groan escaping his lips. Ari immediately leaned in, but his eyes didn't open. His breathing steadied for a moment before falling back into fevered shallows.
Ari rested her hand over his, her voice dropping to a whisper.
> "Wake up, Leo. Please. Just open your eyes and say something stupid already."
But he didn't.
Instead, his fingers tightened around hers for a brief moment—barely noticeable. A flicker, a phantom twitch, and then silence again. Still, it was enough to make her breath catch.
> "You're still in there," she whispered, brushing a few strands of sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. "Good. Then keep fighting, dummy."
She sat back, folding her arms tightly over her chest to keep herself from trembling. The sounds of the tent—groans, footsteps, the murmurs of worried medics—blurred around her.
The chaos was over, for now. But something about the quiet was worse.
---
Outside, evening bled into night.
The camps had taken on an eerie glow—magic crystals lighting the paths between wreckage and recovery. Smoke trails curled like tired prayers toward the stars.
Rayleigh stood beside the remains of an old guild statue, its face melted by a blast, sword still halfway raised toward nothing.
> "We were never ready," he muttered.
A voice startled him.
> "Were we ever supposed to be?"
It was Ari. She'd come outside, arms wrapped around herself in the cold.
Rayleigh didn't answer immediately.
> "There was always a storm coming," he said finally. "Velyour just made sure we saw it with our own eyes."
> "What about Leo?" she asked, voice tight. "Is he going to be okay?"
Rayleigh turned to her. His eyes were soft, but wary.
> "Physically? He'll recover. But that kind of power... that kind of release? It leaves marks on the soul."
Ari looked away, chewing her lower lip.
> "He doesn't even know what he's become."
Rayleigh nodded slowly. "But others will start to notice. And some… won't be kind about it."
A pause.
> "Do you know what he cast?" she asked quietly.
> "No," Rayleigh admitted. "But the earth still hasn't stopped humming from it."
They stood in silence, staring up at the flickering stars. One of them blinked out just then—a coincidence, perhaps. Or a warning.
---
Far off in the mountains, in a place few dared to tread…
A flicker of light pulsed between ancient stones—runes awakening. Symbols long forgotten shimmered faintly beneath centuries of moss and dust.
A raven perched silently atop a broken archway. Then, without a sound, it took flight—wings slicing through the night.
The old magic had stirred. And something had heard it.
---
Back at the camp…
Leo's fevered body shivered once more. A strange light curled around his fingertips beneath the blanket—golden and soft, but pulsing erratically, like it didn't belong entirely to him.
Ari noticed, eyes widening.
> "Leo…?"
The magic vanished just as quickly as it came. He let out a ragged breath, murmuring something in his sleep.
It wasn't a language she knew.
But she had a feeling that, very soon, someone would.
---